April 2009 Filers

[Dennis&Dane 0]

congrats! it wont be long now! reunion!

[stevydoo 0]

Went online to do some bill paying and noticed that my check had already cleared from USCIS. I viewed the check online and found the receipt number and logged in to the USCIS website. So in short, the summary is I mailed the package from the Philippines on April 6th. On April 8th, the package was received and my NOA1 was issued. (Waiting for the hardcopy). By April 10th, my check had cleared my bank. Wow, that was all very fast. But of course, now we all know the real wait begins.

For us, the wait is not as bad as others. I have a house in the Philippines that my fiance and I live in. I also have my house in America. I go back to America about every 3 or 4 months for a couple of months and then return. I have been doing this for 2 years now. I am hoping my trip back to America in June will be the last I take without Mae.

Good luck for your petition- I admire your living situation in the meantime. Vicki and I used a lawyer to apply for our K1 in January. We got all the way to the interview this June, but the petition was rejected because the CO claimed the filing date is NOA1 (Jan19,08') and I left Phil the last time 5 days before that date (jan14,08'). Our lawyer claims USCIS makes the determination of timeliness and the CO was wrong- he appealed it to the Supervisory Consular Officer in Manila a couple weeks ago. The lawyer claims he filed our K1 petition sometime in early Jan08' (he never provided the actual date) before Jan14, meeting the 2 window of eligibility.

The embassy called Vicki twice since the appeal and asked the same question- when was I in Phil last time. My question for you is this--- you said your package was received on April8th and your NOA1 issued the same day... are you sure it was issued on the same day? Our case hangs on the lawyer's claim of at least a week delay between USCIS receiving our package and the "receipt date" listed on the formal I-979C NOA1. The lawyer said the legal filing date is the date the check clears; I paid him $2500 upfront by credit card and have no record of a cleared check.

I thought paying a lawyer to handle everything would simplify things but this has turned out rather badly. Now we are beginning to question his integrity. He claims we are innocent victims of a "turf war" between Homeland Security and the State Department, but I can't find a single case anywhere of this happening to anyone else. Thanks for any information you can offer to help us get to the bottom of this situation.